ou may have noticed the randomly-selected quotation which appears at the bottom of every page here at MatthewReilly.com. Well, these have been hand-picked by Matthew Reilly himself, and as an added bonus for high-resolution visitors, they are presented below for reference.

Champion's head exploded. (Ice Station)

Dupont's head exploded like a watermelon. (Temple)

McConnell's head exploded like a burst balloon (Area 7)

'I mean, hey, I can't die. I'm the hero of this story.' (Shane Schofield in Ice Station)

Bellos walked into the open central area of the Salomon Room. He seemed to pause in front of the case containing the Gutenberg Bible. 'Oh. Yes. Hmph,' he muttered. 'Humans.' (Contest)

'If you have the choice between bringing someone in dead or alive, dead is better.' - Aloysius Knight, international bounty hunter (Scarecrow)

Some doors are meant to remain unopened. (Temple)

Each of the elite military units of the world has its own characteristic weapon. For the United States navy SEALs, experts in close-quarter combat, it is the Ruger pump-action, 12-gauge shotgun. For the British Special Air Service - the famous SAS - nitrogen charges are the signature weapon. For US Marine Force Reconnaissance Units - it is the Armalite MH-12 Maghook, a grappling hook which also contains a high-powered magnet for adhesion to sheer metallic surfaces. (Ice Station)

The Armalite MH-12 looks like an old-fashioned Tommy gun. It has two pistol grips: one normal grip with a trigger, and one forward, support grip below the muzzle. In effect, the Maghook is a gun, a compact, two-handed launcher that fires a grappling hook from its muzzle at tremendous speed. (Ice Station)

The horrifying alligator-like creature now stood on its hind legs, towering over Swain, looming above him like an evil apparition.
Swain wagged an admonishing finger at the infuriated animal. "Ah-ah-ah. No touching." (Contest)

Then Rebound saw Mother draw her powerful Colt automatic pistol from its holster and level it at the killer whale's head.
'You want to eat something, baby?' Mother said to the whale. 'Eat this.'
She fired. (Ice Station)

I smiled weakly at the man. It was, after all, the first time I had ever been given the excrement of a jungle animal as a token of appreciation. (Temple)

The rotor blades of the chopper sliced through Anistaze's neck like a chainsaw through butter, removing his head from his body in a smooth, frictionless cut. (Temple)

'If you go, you go. But you won't come back alive.' - Mike Fraser (Contest)

How the hell is a guy supposed to think when he's inside an Abrams tanks that's plummeting to earth at a hundred miles an hour, with a bad guy climbing through the driver's hatch with a gun and a fourth generation nuclear weapon to disarm. (Temple)

... the case had an altitude sensor. A two-way altitude sensor. If the case detected that it was either higher than 1000 feet - the height of the Empire State - its acid-dissolution system would be triggered. Similarly, if the sensor detected that the case was lower than ten feet off the ground, the acid would also be released. Which meant any would-be thief had to stay both out of the air and off the ground. (Altitude Rush - MR short story)

It was cloaked in shadow and wetness, but it was clear that this was a structure that had been designed to exude menace and power. A structure that could have had no other purpose than to inspire fear, idolatry and worship. It was a Temple. (Temple)

'But Mister President, the radio transmitter on your heart, once started, is kinetically operated. If your heart should stop beating, the transmitter will cease to operate, and the satellite's signal will not be returned - in which case, the satellite will instruct the bombs in the airports to detonate.
'Mister President. If your heart should stop, America as we know it dies. If your heart keeps beating, America lives.' (Caesar Russell in Area 7)

'Hey Captain Schofield. [Dave Fairfax said] Nice to hear from you. So, what have you destroyed today?'
'I've flooded a Typhoon-class submarine, levelled a building, and launched a ballistic missile.' [Schofield replied]
'Slow day, huh.' (Scarecrow)

Nero pressed a button on the Maghook's launcher and suddenly, the Maghook began to play out its rope and Book began to descend toward the pool, head-first. (Ice Station)

The lights on the Maghook's magnetic head burst to life, and the now-charged hook began searching for a metallic source nearby. It found it in the steel plate inside Goliath's forehead. (Area 7)

What Mother now had in place of her natural left foot and shin was a state-of-the-art prosthetic limb which, so its makers claimed, guaranteed total and undiminished body movement. Featuring titanium-alloy 'bones', fully rotating joints and hydraulic muscle simulators, its operation was so sophisticated - involving nerve impulse reception and automatic weight-shifting - that it required an internal prologic computer chip to control it. (Area 7)

Do not enter at any cost. Death lies within. (Inscription on boulder sealing the Temple in Temple)

'You never give up, do you?' - Stephen Swain to the fierce alien, Reese (Contest)

'This is the strongest treaty on earth. Our genuine friendship is our bond.' French Ambassador Pierre Dufresne, talking about the NATO alliance after French and US forces battled to the death at a remote Ice Station in Antarctica (Ice Station)

Meanwhile, 'Robin Hood' and 'Little John' were busy crossing Madison Avenue itself - by hopping from one moving bus to another!
A bare twelve feet off the ground, they jumped from bus to bus, slowly making their way across the four lanes of traffic - two tiny figures moving above the morning rush, using full-sized buses as stepping stones. (Altitude Rush)

It wasn't every day a novelist got invited to see the inner workings of Fort Bragg, so Raleigh had gladly accepted. (A Bad Day at Fort Bragg - MR short story)

The snarling cat that I had seen was nothing but a stone carving of a great, cat-like creature. But the carving was covered in a veil of trickling water, giving the unwary traveller - me - the impression that it was well and truly alive. (Temple)

It was then that Raleigh saw one of the mantis-like Delta men emerge from the haze and look directly up at him...
Raleigh smiled, nodded.
The man responded by raising his MP-5 sub-machine gun and firing it right at Raleigh's head. (A Bad Day at Fort Bragg)

His [Raleigh's] mind kicked into overdrive: Twelve armed soldiers are trying to kill you. Why? Doesn't matter. Figure that out later. Right now, you have to get off this viewing platform. (A Bad Day at Fort Bragg)

They met in a hotel in New York City. (The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer - MR short story)

He was sold as the classic Serious Young Musician, but in reality he was just another wannabe Kurt Cobain clone. (The Rock Princess and the Thriller Writer)

They had encased the little structure in a Lexan-glass airlock - a giant clear-glass cube that completely covered the squat little building - creating a bizarre mix of the dusty-and-ancient and the very high-tech...
It was the entrance to an ancient mine. (The Mine - MR short story)

The largest force of men I have ever seen filled the valley before me, an undulating mass of humanity pouring down from the citadel on the hill toward the city - 100,000 Incans, all of them on foot, shouting and screaming and waving torches and weapons. (Temple)

As we walked through the Incan ranks, I saw that numerous stakes had been driven into the ground all around us. Mounted on top of the stakes were the bloodied heads of Spanish soldiers. (Temple)

Suddenly a second whistling sound filled the air, and this time, a flaming arrow flew down from one of the darkened rooftops surrounding the plaza and shot low over the cannon on the flatbed wagon... the flaming arrow had been so well-aimed that it had lit the fuse on the cannon! (Temple)

'It's a Fibonacci number... ' (Kirsty in Ice Station)

'Don't you guys remember SOHCAHTOA?' (William Race in Temple)

With a sharp thwump, a four-inch-long arrow lodged into the ice barely two inches from Schofield's right eye. (Ice Station)

William Race was late for work. Again. (Temple)

The figure just stood there before him - perhaps a yard way, his face shrouded in shadow - absolutely motionless. He towered over Schofield, gazing at him silently. Schofield hadn't even heard him approach. (Area 7)

[The man's face] had a hideous black tattoo covering its entire left side, a tattoo depicting five ragged claw-marks scratched down the length of the man's face. (Area 7)

'If you do not lay down your defences before our arrival, we will be forced to make an offensive entry. Such an entry, ladies and gentlemen, will be painful.' (SAS Brigadier Trevor J. Barnaby in Ice Station)

Damn it, Race thought, he was going to have to change his PIN number. (Temple)

'Snake, you know what? I never liked you.' (Shane Schofield in Ice Station)

'It's an ethnic bullet, designed to kill only certain races of people, people possessed of ethnically exclusive genes.' (Gunther Botha in Area 7)

'Moriturum te saluto' (I salute you, you who are about to die) (Bellos in Contest)

Whatever 'it' was, it snorted again, and as it did so, Ryan felt a wave of hot air rush across the back of his neck. It was behind him. Right behind him! (Contest)

In the dull yellow light, Fraser could see long black bristles flowing over a high arched back, saw demonic pointed ears and powerful muscular limbs, saw matted black hair and gigantic scythe-like claws. (Contest)

'In the Presidian, the third element is a beast, a beast known throughout the galaxy as the Karanadon.' (Selexin in Contest)

'It [the Karanadon] is a most powerful beast, like no other,' Selexin said. 'As tall as the ceiling, as broad as three men, and as strong as twenty - and its considerable strength is only matched by its unbridle aggression.' (Contest)

... Renco had been telling me that the most feared creature in their mythology is a great black cat known as the titi in Agmara, or the rapa in Quechua. Apparently, the creature is as black as the night and almost as tall as a man even when standing on all four legs. And it kills with unparalleled ferocity. (Temple)

'The rapa, however, is another story altogether. It's more like the South American version of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. It's a legendary creature, a great big black cat.' (Professor Walter Chambers in Temple)

It was fully five feet tall, even while standing on all four legs, and it was completely black in colour, jet-black from head to toe. It looked like a jaguar of some sort. A giant black jaguar. (Temple)

Austin turned, just in time to see the slicked back of a large animal rise above the surface and plough at tremendous speed into Cox's chest, driving him underwater. (Ice Station)

There was a great splash as Lucifer entered the water, and as the foam subsided, the Komodos rushed him, swarming all over his body, turning it into a writhing mass of black reptitian skin, claws and tails, and in the middle of it all, Lucifer's kicking feet and agonised screams. (Area 7)

Flashlight in hand, Tate walked absently to the far end of the darkened hangar. But he stopped twenty yards short of the ramp there when he saw something emerging from it. Already somewhat muddled, now his mind reeled at the sight that met him. It was almost surreal. A family of bears - yes, bears - stepped out from the ramp and onto the floor of the underground hangar. (Area 7)

'If you wanted to get a top-secret vaccine out of a top-secret Air Force base in the middle of the US desert, how would you do it?'... 'You don't get something out of America by going north, south, east or west,' Fairfax said. 'You get it out by going up. Into space.' (Area 7)

'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes' (Who watches the watchman?) - Juvenal

'Duas tantum res anxius optat/Panen et circenses' (The people long eagerly for two things: bread and circuses) - Juvenal

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about - Oscar Wilde

MR QUOTES

'They're there to eat people.' - Matthew Reilly, when asked about why he has scary creatures in his books.

'You only get one first novel.' - Matthew Reilly

'To anyone who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.' - Matthew Reilly

'As for Contest, one question that nagged me all the way through the writing process was: how the hell am I going to kill the Karanadon? The answer came to me completely out of the blue. It just hit me. I started dancing around the house, pumping my fists in the air.' - Matthew Reilly, on the writing of Contest.

'There is no such thing as an aspiring writer. You are a writer. Period. I was told that once, and I have never forgotten it.' - Matthew Reilly (Interview in Area 7)

'Now, I know what you're thinking: Matthew Reilly books aren't exactly known for their character development. Hey, one reviewer once said that the characters in my books don't live long enough to warrant any development.' - Matthew Reilly

'A sequel should reveal some kind of extra dimension to the lead characters of the original.' - Matthew Reilly on sequels.

'Simple. I offered it to every major publisher in Sydney and they all rejected it!' - Matthew Reilly on why he originally self-published Contest.

'I think people like escapism, and that is exactly what Ice Station is. Pure, unadulterated, escapist entertainment.' - Matthew Reilly

'There was the time time I told a reporter something embarrassing about my mother's carpet, only to see it included in the subsequent article, which I should add, appeared in the weekend magazine of a national newspaper!' - Matthew Reilly, talking about stand-out memories in his dealings with the media.

'The added bonus was that with two stories I could get double the action!' - Matthew Reilly on the split-story structure of Temple.

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